Review

Evolution was supposed to be Ivan Reitman's big
"comeback" film. After the
disastrous Six Days Seven Nights and the even more disastrous Father's
Day, Reitman really needed a hit. Evolution
is best described as Ghostbusters meets Men in Black. When a meteor crashes in Arizona, geologist
Dr. Harry Block (Orlando Jones) and ex-military scientist-turned biology
professor Dr. Ira Kane (David Duchovney) go investigate. An alien infestation quickly begins to take
over the town as alien primordial ooze evolves at an alarmingly fast rate. With lots of humor intermingled with sci-fi
action, the music needed to play both ends of the spectrum. Enter composer John Powell, who had recently
worked on Shrek.

Powell's score to Evolution has a few major
themes. The first is the twangy
guitar-heavy theme that, along with playful string work and upbeat percussion,
plays off the humor and wackiness prevalent in the first act of the film and is
found in such cues as "In The Hall By The Pool", "The Army Arrives",
and "Burgled". When the
military shows up and takes over, we encounter a more heroic march, as heard in
"The Ira Kane?", and my favorite cue, "The Fire
Truck". There is, of course, the
love interest - played by Julianne Moore.
She gets a more contemporary, softer theme heard in "Room For One
More".

"The Forest" is a cue filled with lots of harps
and chimes and flirting woodwinds that evoke a sense of fantastical
wonder. But it quickly turns into
whimsy as the comedy starts playing out.
There are a lot of action cues on this album. Powell doesn't hold back, and in a few musical cues that remind
me a bit of Chicken Run crossed with Men in Black ("The Mall
Chase", "The Fire Truck"), he lets it rip. "The Cave Waltz" is a delightful,
well, waltz; "Monitors Out" and "Fire" are tense and creepy
cues.

Powell's score was an AFM union recording, and it's
noteworthy that as part of a new arrangement, it's a bit cheaper to release
more of the score. One of the
stipulations was that all of the members of the orchestra be listed in the
liner notes. Finally we can see who
these people are that have been delivering these wonderful performances! (And we even get more than 30-minutes of
score to boot!) While parts of it sound
a bit familiar stylistically to other scores we have heard in the past,
Powell's score to Evolution has been playing consistently in my CD
player - and that's certainly a testament to its enjoyment!